A young driver would probably have survived a head-on crash had she been wearing a seatbelt, an inquest heard.
Laura White, 28, died instantly in the collision on Woodhead Road, Berry Brow, on January 31.
An inquest at Huddersfield Coroner’s Court heard that Ms White, who had diabetes, disliked using her seatbelt because it interfered with an insulin pump she wore.
The driver of the vehicle she collided with, Natasha Farnsworth, suffered serious injuries but survived.
The inquest heard Ms Farnsworth had probably lived because she had been wearing a seatbelt.
A postmortem revealed that Ms White, who had anxiety and depression, was over the drink-drive limit and had traces of cannabis and cocaine in her blood at the time of the accident.
Ms White, who had struggled to control her diabetes, had a high blood sugar level which also may have impaired her ability to drive, the court was told.
The court heard Ms White, of Newsome, was heading south on Woodhead Road, near Berry Brow, when she lost control of her Vauxhall Corsa.
Her car veered into the oncoming lane and struck a wagon recovering a Renault Clio which had crashed a short time before.
The inquest heard Ms White’s car was deflected by the stationary truck into the path of an oncoming Volkswagen Polo driven by Ms Farnsworth.
This led to a combined 60mph impact, the court was told.
Ms White, a care worker, suffered ‘catastrophic’ multiple injuries and was pronounced dead at the scene, the hearing was told.
An earlier diesel spill was suspected to have caused the crash.
Ms White’s father, Stephen White, told the inquest he had driven past the scene the following day and found fuel covering the road.
But a police investigation found no evidence that a spillage had caused the accident, although it found traces of a ‘contaminant’ on the road surface.
West Yorkshire assistant coroner, Oliver Longstaff, concluded that Ms White had died as the result of a road traffic collision.
He noted that Ms White and Ms Farnsworth had been driving cars of similar size and construction.
Mr Longstaff said Ms Farnsworth’s seatbelt had probably saved her life while Ms White’s ‘refusal’ to wear one had caused her death.
He said: “One driver came away with unpleasant but survivable injuries. One driver suffered catastrophic injuries and died instantaneously.”
Mr Longstaff said he accepted that the insulin pump may have caused some inconvenience – but it did not justify Ms White’s refusal to use her seatbelt.
He also noted that high levels of sugar in her blood combined with alcohol, cannabis and cocaine may have impaired her ‘judgment’, ‘perception’ and control of her vehicle.
